Persona 4: The Golden Year
by Soul's Edge
Summary: Soul has just arrived in a quiet town called Inaba. Soon after, strange and disturbing things begin to happen. As Soul creates bonds and makes new friends, will he be able to find the one behind the mystery?
1. The Velvet Room

Disclaimer: I do not own the Persona series or anything affiliated with it at all.

* * *

The vehicle drove itself into the depths of the fog, the headlights were shining through the darkness, which only led to even more darkness. It was like a loop. The car just passed through the same thick fog as it kept driving.

Inside the car was a woman, who had long, blonde hair tied back. The poor lighting made what clothing she had on hard to see.

However, the old man right next to her was simply looking down. He had white hair on the back of his head, and an unusually lengthy nose. He had pointy ears, and was wearing two white gloves.

The boy on the other side of the "room" was looking at them with a confused look, but did not speak one word.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," said the old man sitting on the other end of the room. His eyes opened up, and he lifted his head to look at the young boy, "It seems... we have a guest with an intriguing destiny... my name is Igor..."

The young boy kept the confused look on his face as Igor began speaking again, "This place exists between dream and reality... mind and matter... only those who are bound by a certain, let's say, contract, may enter. Maybe such a fate awaits you in the future. Now... what is your name?"

His mouth opened, no words coming out at first. But as he shook his head a little bit, the name "Soul" came out of his mouth.

"I see," Igor said, not taking his eyes off Soul for a second, "Let us take a look into your future..."

Igor placed his right hand over the table that was in front of him. A blue light quickly came and faded, leaving a deck of cards. "Do you believe in... fortune telling?" he asked.

Soul wanted to shake his head, but decided to just sit and not give an answer. Igor gave a small smile as he moved his hands, and each of the cards moved to a certain spot on the table.

"I use the same cards every time, yet the result is always different," Igor said, looking at the cards that were just layed out, "It's a bit like life, wouldn't you agree?"

Soul nodded, looking at the cards of the table instead of staring at Igor, who said, "A tower in the upright position... it seems a terrible catastrophe is imminent... the card indicating the future beyond that is," he flipped over a card, "The Moon. In the upright position... this represents hesitation and mystery. Very interesting, indeed."

Igor looked up at Soul, drawing a breath, then said, "It seems that you will encounter a misfortune at your destination, and a great mystery will be imposed on you. In the coming days, you will enter into a contract of some sort, after which, you will return here."

Soul sighed, none of this was making sense to him, but he only gave an annoyed look at Igor, who seemed to only ignore him. He never agreed to any of this...

Soul wanted to say something, but was cut off by Igor saying something else. "The coming year is a turning point in your destiny. If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to you, so that does not happen," Igor moved his arm, and all of the cards disappeared in a flash, "Ah! I haven't introduced my assistant to you yet," he turned to look at the woman, "This is Margaret. She is a resident of this place, just like myself."

"My name is Margaret," she said, "I am here to accompany you on your journey." Margaret gave her attention back to Igor, having nothing left to say, apparently.

"We shall attend to the details another time," Igor said, and Soul nodded, "Until then... farewell."

* * *

Soul awoke on the train, looking out the window as he heard something through the speaker: "Passengers headed towards Inaba City, please go to the other side of the platform."

Soul picked himself up and took his bag down, wrapping it around his body.

* * *

As Soul rested his head on the next train, a sudden burst of pain shot through his body. He held in a cry of pain and clenched his fists as well as his teeth to hold it in.

When it ended, he looked at the window, confused at what was currently going on. He shook his head and looked down at the city he was headed towards. It was nothing too special.

Soon he found himself outside the station. "I was supposed to have a ride here," he whispered to himself and started to walk around until he heard a voice call for him.

"Hey! Over here!" He turned and saw a man dressed in a suit, as well as a pair of dark brown pants. Right by him was a little girl, wearing a skirt and a pink shirt.

This was going to be his new home for the next year.


	2. Dojima

Soul walked over to the man and the little girl. He stuck out his hand, and shook Soul's calmly. "My name is Ryotara Dojima. I'm your uncle, and you'll be staying with me for the next year. And this is my daughter, Nanako."

Soul took a quick look at Dojima's daughter. She hid behind him, being nervous around someone who she had never met before. "... 'lo..." she said under her breath, and Dojima laughed a little.

"What's with you? Why are you so nervous?" He asked jokingly, only to get a slap on his leg from Nanako, "Haha!"

Soul said, "Oh, it's been a long time." He said, smiling at Dojima. He barely had any memories of when he last saw him, but it had to be from when he was just a small child.

Dojima answered with a smile, "Yeah, I'll say. Last time I saw you, you were in diapers," he opened up the door to the car and let Soul and Nanako in, and started up the engine.

* * *

Dojima parked at a Gas station, letting both Nanako and Soul out, as they exited the car a gas-station attendant rushed up to them, "Welcome." Dojima thanked him and let Nanako out.

"Are you sure you can do it by yourself?" Dojima asked Nanako, who nodded quickly. She rushed off to the bathroom, with Dojima following close behind.

Soul leaned against the wall as Dojima asked the attendant to fill the car up as he walked off to make sure Nanako was doing alright. He sighed, leaning against the car, tired.

Dojima returned with his daughter, opening the car door as Soul felt a surge of pain shoot through his skull, "O-oh god..." he muttered to himself, holding his head with one hand firmly.

"Are you okay? You don't look very well." Nanako said to Soul, a worried tone in her voice. He simply nodded as he got in the car.

* * *

Soul put down his drink as he heard a loud ringing coming from behind him, "Of course, of all times..." Dojima said and got up to retrieve the phone, "Dojima here. Okay. I'll be there," he hung up, turning back to Soul and Nanako.

"Everything okay?" Soul asked his uncle, who nodded.

"Yeah, I just gotta head to work. Make yourself at home."

Soul couldn't sleep that night.

**Next chapter is when it all really begins!**


	3. Yasogami High School

Soul cursed at this horrible teacher as he led him into the classroom, making him write his name on the chalkboard. He not only looked stupid, but he was practically preaching abstinance to him, "I hate wasting my time, but I better introduce this poor sack of shit. He's been tossed in this sorry excuse for a class from the big city. Tell 'em your name, kid."

Soul summoned up all the courage in his body and said to his face, "Are you makin' fun of me?" he said with a straight face, and the teacher looked at him, outraged.

"That's it. You're on my shit-list, effective immediatley." He said, and the class gasped at the transfer student's first impression.

As the teacher began to preach at him again, a young girl with short brown hair called out to him, "Um, Mr. Morooka, can the transfer student sit next to me?"

_She wants me to sit next to her...?_ Soul asked himself in his mind, surprised anyone would want to be near him after that little display, "Yeah, sure, whatever." Mr. Morooka said, pointing to the seat.

Soul took his bag and sat down next to the girl, and she whispered to him, "He's the worst, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Soul said, hearing people talk about him all around the classroom.

"We call him King Moron. I guess we just gotta hang in there for another year." She said with a sweet smile on her face, Soul nodded, facing the teacher as he flat-out told everyone to "shut their traps".

* * *

Hours had passed and the class had ended. As students started to get out of their seats to talk to their friends, some kind of ringing sound rang through the room, "Attention teachers, report to the faculty office for a brief staff meeting. Students, there has been an incident near school grounds, remain where you are."

As Soul got up to leave, ignoring the announcement, he was stopped by the girl who was by a long-black haired girl, "I never really introduced myself. My name is Chie Satonaka, and this is Yukiko Amagi."

"Nice to meet you," Yukiko said, smiling slightly.

Soul nodded to both of them, then said, "Nice to meet you both too. My name is Soul Narukami." He turned his head over slightly as he watched a student who seemed to be panicked walk over to Chie.

"Ms. Satonaka, um..." he handed her a DVD case, "The way they moved... it... it was just amazing. Anyways, see ya later, gotta go now."

He began to walk away, but Chie chased him down, kicking him in the crotch as she did so, "Yosuke, what did you do to my DVD?" She opened up the case, revealing a crack in the disc, "Oh, you're going to pay for this..."

After another quick hit to the crotch, he fell onto his knees while Chie and Yukiko passed him. Soul decided to leave him be as he tagged along with the other two.

* * *

Yukiko and Chie stopped in their tracks as a boy dressed up in some kind of suit stepped in front of them. When Soul got a good look at him, he did seem sort of... creepy. "Y-You're Yuki, right? You.. you wanna go somewhere?"

"I-..."

"Are you comin' or not?!"

Soul suddenly stepped in between the two and looked at the boy, "Hey, back off. You're not using a very nice tone." He said, getting a grip on his hand.

The boy jerked his hand out of Soul's grip and ran away, leaving Chie and Yukiko a bit stunned, "How did you...?"

"Well, he was obviously bothering you, so I guess I should have done something." Soul said, still with a straight face, no kind of emotion at all on his face.

Yukiko shook her head and looked at Chie, "W-What did he want from me?"

"What did he want? Obviously he wanted to ask you out on a date..." Chie said, looking at Yukiko, who seemed to be shocked by this.

* * *

As they walked through the streets, Chie had asked him where he came from, "Oh, I'm from Tokyo." Soul said to her as they stopped walking, taking a break now.

"So, looking back at what you did to that kid... tell me, do you think Yukiko's cute?" Chie asked him, and Soul looked down, his cheeks flushed, "Wow, are you blushing?"

"Chie, stop, please..." Yukiko said to her best friend in a quiet voice, only to be interrupted by sirens.

Somehow Soul knew things were going to get exciting, and fast.


End file.
